The Original Trio
by Cranium
Summary: Corinne meets Marshall and Lucas for the first time.


THE ORIGINAL TRIO

CHAPTER 1

October 2000 - Saturday - 9:31 a.m.

"Lucas, come out!" Marshall Wheeler pounded on the door of the bathroom, and waited, hoping to hear the sound of the door being unlocked. Instead, he heard a grunt of defiance and a muffled sniff.

"Lucas…this is ridiculous…other people need to use this bathroom, you know. You can't hide in there all day."

More sniffs and a few choking gasps.

"Come on, come out. It's okay. I was bullied a couple of times when I was younger. Just try to ignore them and don't show them that they get to you."

"Oh, sure, wise words from the master of dealing with bullies!" shrieked the tortured voice of Marshall's roommate. "You were bullied a _couple_ of times? This has been happening to me since I was _six_!"

Marshall groaned and slumped against the door. In the six weeks that he had been at Blake Holsey High, he had become very fond of his roommate, Lucas Randall, and the two spent practically all of their time together, since neither of them had made any other friends yet. He found it incredible how Lucas had only been here less than two months and was already number one on the bullies' hit-list. People had been picking on him since day one. Marshall sympathised greatly with his friend, and wished he could help more, but sometimes felt frustrated with how clueless and helpless Lucas could be. Why couldn't he learn to let some of the things they said and did pass? And for the more serious bullying, why didn't he tell one of the professors? Or stand up to them himself?

"Lucas, please…come on out. Come back to the room with me. You want to talk about it?"

There was a pause, and then a click as the door unlocked. Lucas stepped out into the hallway, red-eyed and puffy. Without a word, he pushed past Marshall and started to head down the corridor. Marshall ran after him.

"Hey, it's all right…don't worry about those jerks, they've gone. Why don't you come back to the room. Why don't you finish telling me what you were saying about seeing Elvis in the music room? Yeah? Go on, Lucas, that was great. You saw Elvis! I want to hear more about it."

"You didn't believe me," Lucas grunted.

"Yeah, well, he _is_ supposed to be dead and all, but…hey, you never know, maybe the theory that he faked his death is true! Come on, let's go back to the room and…"

"Marshall," Lucas interrupted, his voice trembling slightly, "I appreciate you trying to help me, but I really don't feel like…I'm not in the mood…I just want to be alone right now, okay?"

"Okay. Sure." Marshall reached over and ruffled his hair affectionately. "I'll see you later, then, I guess."

Lucas headed off on his own. Marshall leant against the wall as he felt a sudden feeling of intense anger towards the people that bullied Lucas regularly. If Lucas wasn't going to do anything, then he, Marshall, was going to have to try…it was getting ridiculous.

Hearing footsteps, he turned and saw Principal Durst walking down the hall towards him. He knew her to be strict and quite authoritarian - if anybody would deal with those bullies firmly, she would.

"Principal Durst!" he called, hurrying towards her. "Principal Durst, can I have a word with you for a minute?"

Durst eyed him suspiciously. "Yes, I suppose so," she said reluctantly. "But I am rather busy, so do try to make it quick…Michael, isn't it?"

"Marshall. Marshall Wheeler. Thanks for listening," Marshall said. "Look, it's really important that I tell you what's been going on. There's something wrong with…"

Principal Durst's eyes widened. "There is nothing wrong at Blake Holsey High," she announced, cutting him off.

"What? No, that's not what I meant," Marshall told her. "See, you really need to know about this stuff that's been happening to…"

"Whatever's been happening, I'm sure there is a logical explanation for it," Durst said flatly. "There is _nothing_ wrong at Blake Holsey High," she repeated, although it seemed to Marshall that she was trying to convince herself as well as him. "Good day, Mr Wheeler."

October 2000 - Saturday - 11:04 a.m.

Corinne lay on her bed and glared at the beaming sun rays outside. It was a beautiful autumn day, and had she been at home, she would have been seeing her friends, or going to a movie, and in general, being cheerful. Instead, she was lying on her bed, mulling over the fact that she had been at Blake Holsey High for six weeks and didn't have a single friend.

Not that it had always been easy for her to make friends. Having an IQ of 172 set her apart from most people. It was harder for her to relate to them, and them to relate to her. However, although never being hugely popular, she had managed to gain a group of close friends back at home. At Blake Holsey High, however, she had been singled out by the popular girls as nothing more than a geek, a brainy loser, born to be scorned. One of the girls, Madison, had been particularly horrid - and she was always surrounded by several of her hanger-on friends, who would laugh and titter at her insults and make a few of their own. The times that Corinne had tried to be nice to them, they had treated her as though she was dirt. Now, realising that they were never going to accept her, she usually just tried to avoid them.

Realising with a sigh that she would be even more bored and miserable if she stayed in her room all day, Corinne stepped outside and started descending the stairs, intending to head for the TV room to catch a movie or one of her favourite shows. As she started down the hallway, however, she saw Madison and a couple of her friends, Courtney and Shannon, gathered around at the end of the hall, with their backs to her. Groaning, inwardly, Corinne made to go back upstairs and wait until they had gone.

"You little freak," Madison said.

Even though she knew she should ignore her, Corinne turned. Then she saw that Madison and her friends still had their backs to her. They didn't know she was there. They were obviously talking to whomever they had surrounded. Corinne took a few silent steps towards them.

Madison reached down and pulled her victim to their feet. Craning her neck, Corinne saw, to her surprise, that the three girls were ganging up on a _boy_. Then she realised that she recognised him from some of her classes, although she couldn't recall his name - he was small, with brown hair and glasses. Corinne remembered him announcing in their science class a couple of weeks ago that a baby alien was living inside his jacket pocket.

"Please let me go," mumbled the boy. He tried to shake Madison off, but she had too tight a grip. Courtney stepped forward and yanked on his hair, hard. The boy squealed.

"He sounds like a piglet," sniggered Shannon.

"He sounds like a _girl_," scoffed Madison. She shoved the boy against the wall; Corinne winced as she heard the sharp crack of the boy's head making contact with the wall.

"You shouldn't be in this school," Madison hissed. "You should be in an _asylum_." The boy whimpered, and Shannon slapped him sharply across the face.

"He should be in some kind of freak show," Courtney added. "He's so ugly…if we had a vote for the ugliest boy in the school, he'd win it, hands down."

There was a pause. Corinne heard some sniffs and some more whimpers. Then all three girls burst out into derisive laughter. "He's _crying_!" cried Shannon, as though she could hardly believe it. "The freaky little wimp is _crying_!"

"What's the matter, Pig-Face?" sneered Madison. She took the boy's glasses and flung them on the floor. "Did _we_ make you cry? Are you scared of a bunch of _girls_?"

The boy gasped and tried to reply, but his tears got the better of him. He closed his mouth.

Corinne had seen enough. "BACK OFF!" she yelled, storming towards them. "What's the matter with you? He hasn't done anything!"

Madison, Courtney and Shannon all turned. The scowls on their faces chilled Corinne's blood and the scorn and contempt in their eyes made her feel about three inches tall. The boy peered out at her, his face speckled with tears.

"Well, if it isn't Freak Number Two," Madison said. "What's it to do with you, Baxter? We weren't talking to you. Why don't you just get out of here and leave us to our own stuff?"

"You're bullying him," Corinne said furiously. "Leave him alone."

"What are you going to do about it?" Madison asked.

"I'll go get Principal Durst," Corinne said at once.

This seemed to worry the girls. They glanced at each other. "Come on, let's go," Madison said at last. "Let's leave the two freaks to lean on each other." She gave Lucas a hefty shove in the chest, which sent him toppling to the floor and then disappeared around the corner, followed by Courtney and Shannon.

Corinne hurried to the boy and pressed his glasses into his hand. "Hey," she said, "are you all right? Don't pay any attention to them, they're just…"

But now the boy really lost it. He had been crying silently before; now he started wailing and shrieking as though in enormous pain. Tears poured down his face like tiny rivers. He buried his face in his hands and crouched on the floor, his shoulders, indeed his whole body, shaking violently.

"Oh, don't cry!" pleaded Corinne. She had never seen a boy cry so hard before. "I know you're upset," she said. "But you mustn't let them get to you…" She touched the boy's shoulder, in an effort to placate him. He gave a strangled cry and flinched.

Corinne heard racing footsteps, and another boy, about the same age as the two of them, ran down the hall towards them. "Lucas!" he cried. "What happened? Oh my God…" He turned to Corinne. "What did you _do_ to him?" he shouted, his eyes flashing in anger. "What did you _do_?"

"I didn't do anything!" Corinne protested. "Really," she added. "It was Madison and her friends…they were picking on him and I interrupted them. He just started crying and he won't stop."

"Lucas, Lucas, it's okay," the other boy said, dropping to the floor beside Lucas and pulling him to him. He wrapped his arms around Lucas and held him as Lucas continued to cry, his face buried in his friend's shirt, his body still shaking. The boy kept stroking his back and whispering soothingly, "It's all right, it's okay…it's good to cry…just let everything out, that's right…you're okay, I'm not going to let anything happen to you…" Eventually, Lucas's wails subsided, and his body stopped trembling. Marshall let go and gently drew away as Lucas sat up and faced the two of them.

"Thanks…thanks for stepping in," he stammered to Corinne.

"No problem," Corinne said. He climbed unsteadily to his feet. "Do you want to talk?"

"No," mumbled Lucas. "I don't want to talk to anybody."

"Lucas, are you sure…?" the other boy began.

Lucas nodded. "Yes. I…I'll be in our room. Please…please don't come in for a while, okay?"

"Okay, Lucas, but if you want to talk, I'll be there," his friend told him. Lucas nodded gratefully and disappeared up the stairs, leaving Corinne alone with the boy.

"Well…" she said. "That was…"

"Unusual?" Marshall asked. "I'm his roommate. People have been bullying him ever since he started here. I'm Marshall Wheeler, by the way. My friend is Lucas Randall."

"I'm Corinne Baxter," Corinne told him, taking his outstretched hand. "Oh my gosh, what Madison and her friends were saying to him was just terrible. I mean, they hate me too, but they've never treated me like _that_."

"Lucas attracts bullies like a magnet," Marshall said grimly. His face turned sour and he kicked the wall with his foot. "I hate them," he hissed. "The bullies. They make his life absolutely miserable, and he's so soft, he can't stick up for himself, and he won't tell anyone what's going on. And I tried to tell Principal Durst, and she wouldn't even listen, she thought I was trying to tell her there was something wrong with the _school_." He imitated her voice, bitterly. "There is _nothing wrong_ at Blake Holsey High. Nothing wrong? Why don't you take a good look at some of your students and see the way they're making life hell for my roommate, and see how upset he gets?"

"Okay, okay, calm down," said Corinne, concerned.

Marshall gave her a faint smile. "I'm sorry. I just get so frustrated. I hate seeing him so upset. I kind of feel responsible for him, you know. I'm the only friend he's got. And, well, he's kind of the only friend _I've_ got. I feel I should look out for him, you know?" He kicked the wall. "This wouldn't have happened if I'd gone to look for him, instead of staying in my room playing computer games. I could have prevented the whole thing. Instead, I spent the last hour working my way up to Level 33 on _Galactic Wars_." He sounded disgusted with himself. "Some friend _I_ am."

"Hey, look, you have no reason to feel bad," Corinne assured him. "You couldn't know what was going to happen. And the way you were looking after him just there…I wish _I_ had a friend as great as you."

"Well, I think we could all do with a few more friends," Marshall admitted. "The TV's free. Do you want to go watch something?"

"Sure." As Corinne headed down the hall with Marshall, her heart felt fuller than it had since she had come to the school. After four weeks of moping and being lonely, it seemed, she had finally made a friend.


End file.
